Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 just wrapped up this week, and MAPPA has already announced that Season 3 is already in the works.
If you have not been on the Jujutsu Kaisen hype train, you are missing modern peak anime right now! Following the airing of episode 47 (season 2, episode 23) in Japan, MAPPA announced that a third season is already slated for production. The announcement was made with a quick 20-second clip on the series’ official website, teasing an upcoming third season called the “Culling Game” arc from Gege Akutami’s original manga.
I will try to keep it spoiler-free for now but then go into a deep dive afterwards on what I believe will make season 3 a hit, just as much as this second season slapped so hard with fans. The Culling Game arc will take place almost immediately after the events of the Shibuya Incident, but there are some smaller arcs before that. There is the “Itadori’s Extermination” arc and the “Perfect Preparation” arc, which cover 7 chapters and 15 chapters, respectively. So far, MAPPA has not confirmed the season’s director and the premiere date is expected to be dropped sometime in 2024.
Since the anime began airing in 2020, the anime adaptation of Jujutsu Kaisen has amassed a passionate fanbase of audiences and grown to become one of the most popular contemporary shonen anime. It has joined other series, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and My Hero Academia—arguably ushering them as the new “Big Three” anime series of the current generation. In 2021, MAPPA produced Jujutsu Kaisen 0, a feature-length film set before the events of the anime that introduces the character of Yuta Okkotsu, a Jujutsu sorcerer and former student of Satoru Gojo.
Okay, it’s time to dig into some spoilers from manga (nothing too revealing of what is to come, though!) and discuss what happened in Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2.
Based on the season 2 finale, fans saw the great return of Yuta—in one of the most badass ways, too! However, the scene revealed that he may not be on Yuji Itadori and Satoru Gojo’s side of politics. Yuta is tasked to execute Yuji. Without getting into the nitty-gritty details, that beef will get squashed fairly fast. Yuji, Megumi Fushiguro, Yuta and the other jujutsu sorcerers will team up to take down the rogue jujutsu sorcerer Kenjaku, following his new world of granting cursed powers to new humans across Japan and forcing them into a battle royale game.
So, what would be a good amount of content to cover for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3? I think season 3 would flow a lot more like season 1, where there was a more congruent order of plot lines. Do not get me wrong, the Gojo’s Past arcs were essential to Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2! But it was another sort of prequel storyline like in Jujutsu Kaisen 0. This third season should have fewer flashbacks that go back to Gojo’s youth and should delve into some of the other characters’ pasts. Gojo fans may be disappointed with this season, as Gojo takes a little step back from the limelight since he is still trapped in the Prison Realm.
The Perfect Preparation arc will be a highly-anticipated arc to cover as it will contain a lot of exposition and lore. Yuji and his allies will finally meet the pivotal person of barriers in the jujutsu society: Tengen. Yuji and his jujutsu sorcerer team learn more about the importance of Tengen’s safety in the jujutsu world while coming up with a plan to save Tsumiki Fushiguro (Megumi’s sister. She was teased as someone who is being used to activate the Culling Game as part of Kenjaku’s plan in the season 2 finale.
Essentially, the Shibuya Incident arc had some gut-wrenching deaths for fan-favourite characters, but do not think it ended there. Jujutsu Kaisen is really becoming the Game of Thrones of anime where the mangaka Akutami could kill any popular character at any moment. Since Itadori’s Extermination arc covers 7 chapters and the Perfect Preparation arc covers about 15 chapters, I suspect these two arcs could be covered in 5-8 episodes max. This is considering if they want to cover the entire Culling Game arc in one season.
The Shibuya Incident arc covered 58 chapters in the manga, and the Culling Game arc will cover 63 chapters to provide some perspective on the challenging task for the next season. I genuinely think they could just do a film for the arcs leading up to the Culling Game arc (not like Demon Slayer—To The Swordsmith Village!). It would help set up the biggest arc that has currently been published in the manga but also potentially give the animators a slightly longer timeline to work on the film and series.
MAPPA’s announcement that the team is already working on Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 does not really help them with their controversial work practices, but all I can really say is that I hope the animators can get some time to breathe. Based on the studio’s slate for 2024, they are only officially working on two series: Bucchigiri?! and Bōkyaku Battery, but we already know Hell’s Paradise season 2 is also in the works. Either way, Jujutsu Kaisen fans can be assured that they will be getting new content within the next two years, at the very least.
Be sure to check out our Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 review coming out soon for a deeper analysis of the massively devastating season!
